Reigning World Champion Marc Marquez is again looking like the rider who stormed to last year’s MotoGP title, setting the fastest lap in practice at the Sachsenring today but also putting a string of laps in the 1’21s bracket which no-one could match.

In terms of pace and speed over a single lap, Marquez is way ahead of the field and says he now has his confidence back and is prepared to take some more risks with the 2014 chassis he has reverted to.

“It was a long time ago that I felt like this on the Friday. At Assen I had that confidence with the bike but only on Saturday and Sunday so this is important. We must know that tomorrow the others will improve and there are something I am still not happy with,” said Marquez, speaking at the track.

“We did a long run of 12 laps and I was consistent but we must check the second part of the race, that is most important. The feeling is more or less like Assen, I am able to stop the bike and I am more able to be more confident as if I do some mistake I can keep the line.

“After some races maybe you think your style is not good but the think is that if I don’t feel the bike like I want, I am able to be fast but with a lot of risk - this is what happened in the other races.

“Now I start to have this confidence. Of course, if you want to be fast you have to take a risk and still we must work on some points but we are getting to that feeling. When the feeling is better, you feel better. Normally this circuit is good for my riding style but there are points we need to work on.”